If I’m being totally honest, Asia was never high on my travel wish list – I pictured steamy hot crowded cities, and a very long flight to get there. I’m past the age where I want to budget backpack and stay in hostels. There are just a lot of other places much higher on my list that are easier to reach. And then, friends of mine moved to Shanghai. Having a local to visit totally changes the ballgame and is a great excuse to go someplace you normally wouldn’t. So, I started planning my Southeast Asia itinerary 2 weeks solo trip. (spoiler alert: those friends were called back to the States before I made it to Asia, so it became a solo trip and I quickly eliminated Shanghai from my itinerary!)
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Southeast Asia Itinerary 2 Weeks
Aside from visiting friends in Shanghai, the rest of my trip was predicated on visiting the Elephant Nature Park outside of Chiang Mai. A work colleague told me about it and I had to go! Everything else in my Southeast Asia itinerary was built around flights and hotel availability. I had quite the spreadsheet going to keep track of it all! Here’s a rough guide to my Southeast Asia Itinerary for two weeks.
- Chicago to Hong Kong Flight
- Overnight in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong to Chiang Mai flight
- 3 days in Chiang Mai
- Overnight train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok
- 2 nights in Bangkok
- 3 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia
- 3 days in Phuket, Thailand
- Phuket to Hong Kong to Chicago flights
Find out how I packed for two weeks in Southeast Asia with only a carry-on suitcase!
One Night in Hong Kong
My best flight options to get to Chiang Mai from Chicago included an overnight layover in Hong Kong. In hindsight, I wish I’d actually planned a few days in Hong Kong. It seems like a really cool city. I arrived in the evening and had the next morning to sightsee before my afternoon flight. I decided to spend the day visiting the Big Buddha on Lantau Island.
Hong Kong Hotel: I stayed at the Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel – they have a free shuttle to the airport and nearby train stations, including the Tung Chung station, where the cable car station to Big Buddha is located. It’s a bit pricy, but well worth it for the convenience.
Tian Tan Buddha in Hong Kong
There are several ways to reach the Tian Tan Buddha statue on Lantau Island. There is a hiking trail that goes all the way up to Po Lin Monastery. The hike is six miles uphill and departs from the Tung Chung station area. If you are coming from Hong Kong-mainland, you can take a ferry over to Lantau Island (Mui Wo) and then catch a bus to the top. I chose the most expensive, and touristy option, which is to take the Ngong Ping 360 cable car to the top.
Big Buddha Hong Kong Tickets
I pre-purchased my cable car ticket for the first cable car up in the morning, which happened to be 9:30 a.m. The Ngong Ping 360 cable car takes about 25 minutes; it’s definitely the longest cable car I’ve ever ridden. And it goes over water…eek! The views are incredible, though, so I highly recommend this, especially if you only have one day in Hong Kong and won’t get to see the mainland area. Once you arrive at the top, it’s a short stroll through the Ngong Ping village to the stairs leading up to Tian Tan Buddha.
Three Days in Chiang Mai
Elephant Nature Park is the catalyst around which I built the rest of my itinerary. The more I read about Chiang Mai, the more excited I was to visit this Northern Thailand city. Chiang Mai is apparently very popular with digital nomads and ex-pats, so there are plenty of travel blogs covering the area. The city was still larger than I expected, but much more manageable and charming than Bangkok. (400,000 people vs. 10 million!) I spent only three days in Chiang Mai, and I loved every minute.
Chiang Mai Food Tour
Chiang Mai was my first-ever food tour…all because I was nervous about what I would eat in Thailand! The morning after my arrival from Hong Kong, I joined a Chiang Mai Street Food tour. I was the only traveler that day, so I got a private food tour of Chiang Mai! I met my guide, Rain, near a temple in the Old Town. As we strolled through several temples, Rain did an excellent job explaining Buddhism, the history of Thailand, and the kingdom of Lanna. Being a food tour, of course, we visited many interesting food stalls. Left to my own devices, I will default to pasta and pizza (yes, I have the palate of a 10-year-old) so it was great to have someone ordering for me! We sampled many local specialties, such as Chiang Mai sausage and Khao Soi.
GoSeeWrite has a great list of Chiang Mai market choices!
The tour lasted from 10-2 and I’ll admit that eating so much food in the heat of the day was difficult. This was my first day in the Southeast Asian humidity, so I was really dragging for the last hour. Early morning or evening tours are a better bet for me! Fortunately, the tour ended at the gorgeous Makka Hotel (check rates here) with lemongrass tea and sweet treats that Rain picked up at the market. When the tour was over, she helped negotiate a good tuk-tuk price to take me back to the hotel, where I promptly collapsed at the pool for the rest of the day.
Chiang Mai Photo Workshop
Later the same evening, I joined a Chiang Mai photography tour. I was very excited about this tour, as I still didn’t fully understand the functions of my DSLR camera and often still shot in “Auto” mode. Shortly before sunset, I met Kevin and his wife, Pu, near the Iron Bridge, which was a short stroll from my hotel. Again, I was the only one who signed up for the tour, so I had private instruction. Kevin, a Kiwi who lived in Thailand for several years, is a great instructor, helpfully answering all of my questions and giving pointers on shooting the sunset over the river in front of us. We visited several locations through the night, practicing depth of field and long exposures.
Elephant Nature Park
On the second day of my Chiang Mai itinerary, I spent the entire day at Elephant Nature Park. This was my sole reason for coming to Chiang Mai. A colleague had stayed here a few years prior and I became obsessed with visiting. I planned my whole itinerary around playing with rescued elephants in Chiang Mai! With only 3 days in Chiang Mai, this activity was top of my list.
Riding elephants in Thailand was once a quintessential tourist activity, but word is slowly getting out about what a horrible practice it is. In order to be domesticated, elephants are put through a horrible process called Phajaan, or “the crush.” Baby elephants are tied up and tortured until their spirit is broken. There is ample documentation on the web, including horrific pictures, which I won’t post here. Suffice it to say it’s an awful process that should be stopped. The best and easiest way to do this is not to spend your tourist dollars on elephant riding or elephant entertainment! Thankfully, more travelers are choosing to have ethical animal encounters and elephant riding is declining.
Elephant Nature Park offers many options for visitors to interact with rescued elephants. There are rustic lodging on-site and volunteer programs lasting as long as a week. For my visit, I chose the Pamper a Pachyderm day trip visit. For about $200 USD, we spent a full day with 4 lucky elephants who no longer have to work for a living, including “Happy” who is 75 years old!
If you are an animal lover like me, you will love following Elephant Nature Park on Facebook – they post daily photos, videos and stories showing just how special these animals are. A new baby was born in May 2016, and there are lots of adorable videos as he learns how to be an elephant. I highly recommend a visit to Elephant Nature Park – they also have projects in Cambodia and soon in Phuket! Visitor slots fill quickly, so make your reservation as early as possible. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone wait too long, and then ask around for other ethical alternatives. Many places claim to be a sanctuary, but please do your research as they aren’t all as they seem. Elephant Nature Park is well known as the standard-bearer for Thailand elephant rescue.
Chiang Mai Old Town
For my final day in Chiang Mai, I had no specific plans, but I wanted to practice some of the new photography skills I learned from Kevin and Pu. I was up quite early (thanks, jetlag!) and decided to just roam the streets in the general direction of Old Town. It was really cool to see the quiet side of Chiang Mai before everyone was out and about. One of my stops was Lila Thai Massage, where I had a 1-hour foot massage for $4. Lila Thai offers post-release employment for graduates from the prison’s massage training program. The foot massage was essentially a full leg massage – it was heavenly, and it wasn’t the only one I had on this trip!
If you want to experience the trains in Thailand, Miles Less Traveled took the day train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai Hotel: I chose Le Meridien Chiang Mai as my home base for 3 nights. This was my first visit to a Le Meridien property and for only 4,000 Starwood points per night, I was pleasantly surprised! Le Meridien has all the amenities of a luxury hotel and is within walking distance of the old city, plus right above the famous Chiang Mai night market, which is fun to check out in the evenings. The rooftop swimming pool is the perfect spot to escape the crazy heat of Thailand!
Browse Chiang Mai hotels on Booking.com
Need more Chiang Mai ideas? Two Wandering Soles has 28 Unique Chiang Mai Experiences
Two Days in Bangkok, Thailand
From Chiang Mai, I took an overnight train to Bangkok, which I do not recommend. My “first-class” sleeper car came with a pet roach, so I got no sleep that night! I originally only planned to spend one night in Bangkok, but when I found out about Sak Yant Tattoos at Wat Bang Phra outside the city, I changed my itinerary to work this in. An evening tuk-tuk tour was the only other thing I managed to do in Bangkok, where I stayed at the Aloft Bangkok for two nights. The heat was oppressive so I did not accomplish much. I would love to go back and really experience Bangkok, but it would have to be in cooler weather.
Three Days in Siem Reap, Cambodia
After two nights in Bangkok, I flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia to visit the Angkor Wat temples. I planned to take a bus from Bangkok just for adventure, but at the last minute found a flight for $70 and decided I had better ways to spend 8 hours than on a chicken bus. (After my “first-class” Chiang Mai to Bangkok train experience, I’m so glad I opted to fly!) In Siem Reap, I spent 3 nights at Le Meridien Angkor, which included a full day touring the temples, an evening food tour, and a whole lot of time at the pool! (Who can blame me, it was gorgeous!)
Three Days in Phuket
After three days in Siem Reap Cambodia, I then flew to Phuket for the last leg of my South East Asia itinerary. I had nothing planned other than a Phuket kayak tour. I spent three nights (for an amazing price!) at the Westin Siray Bay, and took full advantage of their gorgeous infinity pools.
Greta’s Travels has a great beach-based 10-day Thailand itinerary!
From Phuket, I flew back to Hong Kong for 1 more night before my morning flight back to Chicago the next day. I hoped to visit Victoria Peak, but it was rainy and cloudy and I was exhausted at this point, so the rest of Hong Kong would have to wait for another trip.
Born Globals has all the tips you need for planning a Thailand trip!
Budget for Southeast Asia Itinerary 2 Weeks
Overall, my itinerary got a little wonky with changes, and I was somewhat limited due to the fact that I originally purchased a flight home from Shanghai using miles (luckily I was able to change it to HongKong for $5 but not Bangkok which would have been much easier), but overall, it worked out pretty well.
- Total trip cost ~ $4200
- Flights (5) – $1723 + 40,000 United miles
- Hotels (13) – $717 + 30,000 Starwood Points
- Tours & Tips – $662
- Food – $365
- Taxis – $237
- Souvenirs – $200
- Spa Visits – $67
- Laundry – $40
- Overnight Train Bangkok- 1st class sleeper – $50
- Cambodian Visa – $30
- Dog Boarding $100 (only 2 nights…thanks, Mom!)
Via Travelers has great tips on travel hacking!
While I previously racked up Starwood points, they are now part of Marriott. I use the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card to earn points for free stays. Most of my points are earned through everyday purchases like gas, groceries, and take-out…so much take-out! The $95 Annual Fee is well worth it, given how many free nights I used on this trip alone! The card comes with one free night per year, which pays for itself.
What an amazing trip!
This looks great im so jealous! I plan on doing a solo trip this year (young female) how did you find it? How did you plan your trip i really need some tips!
Thanks
Vicky
Hi Vicky! I started by going to the library and getting a bunch of destination books (China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, etc) – then keeping notes on what sounded good. I use lots of spreadsheets to map out travel, budgets, etc. Frommer’s has some good itineraries that give you a good start, as well as the New York Times series “36 Hours In…” Good luck with your trip planning!